Years ago, my 15-year old daughter was invited by family friends to accompany them to the USA for a couple of weeks on their annual summer vacation at their holiday apartment in Florida.
They explained that all we had to cover was her airfare and spending money. After due consideration, my wife and I decided it was ok to let her go.
On the day of departure we gave her generous spending money and encouraged her to pay her way while there so that she wouldn’t be a burden on them.
The two weeks passed by and everyone seemed to have had a good time. We collected our well-tanned daughter from their house and drove home. After listening to a few anecdotes, the suitcase opening ceremony began.
As any 15-year old girl would have done, she bought all kinds of impractical and novelty Americana for her siblings and mother, including T-Shirts, braces, trinkets, Hershey chocolate bars and so on. She also managed to get herself a bunch of presents too. Shrieks of delight were uttered, thank yous expressed and hugs exchanged. Finally, tucked in the corner of the suitcase, she found a small brown bag, pulled that out and examined its contents. “Oh yes” she said, “this is for you Dad, I didn’t know what to get you, so I decided on this”.
It was a fridge magnet with some “stars & stripes” depiction on it to reassure me it actually did come from good old US of A. I inspected it and wondered what I could do with it. I thought maybe it doubled as a bottle opener, paper gripper or shoehorn or something but nope; this was just a fridge magnet with the sole purpose and ambition in life to stick to fridge doors.
My wife and I exchanged glances and I was given that look only wives know how to throw which say: Say something nice right now! So, I improvised: “Oh lovely, thank you, I will start a collection”.
And I was true to my word. Ever since that day whatever airport I find myself in, I go around like a shopaholic seeking shops that sell fridge magnets. My first action upon arriving home from a trip is to dig out my latest purchase and stick it on the fridge with a triumphant smile.
My double door fridge is now incapable of taking any more of these damned pieces of memorabilia and I am having to introduce a rotational appearance system so that all magnets get an equal and fair chance of going on display to promote their country of origin. I guess sooner or later I have to stop buying these useless objects but I am finding it difficult to do so right now.
I wonder if there is a group therapy for this type of addiction. Hi, My name is Fred and I am addicted to fridge magnets….
